There currently are a number of different lead or pin styles for connecting integrated circuit packages to corresponding circuit boards. For example, conventional leads/contacts include: J-leads, gull-wing leads, C-bend leads, through-hole leads, solder ball type leads, pin grid array type leads, etc.
Typically, these different types of leads are fabricated from metal and emanate from a packaged integrated circuit for connecting to a pad or through-hole of a circuit board. To ensure a good electrical connection the packaged integrated circuit and a host circuit board, a manufacturer forms a solder joint between the leads of the packaged integrated circuit and corresponding surface mount pads or through-holes on the circuit board.
Conventional techniques suffer from a number of deficiencies. For example, there has been an ever-growing need to provide yet more and more pins on circuit device packages for mounting of corresponding circuit devices to printed circuit board. An integrated circuit may include up to or more than 2500 pins (e.g., a 50×50 array of pins). It is very difficult if not impossible with today's technology to provide such a high pin count using standard Gull-wing or J-lead type packages in which the conductive leads extend laterally outward from a periphery of the device to attach the package to the printed circuit board. A conventional ball grid array may be configured to provide high pin counts based on connections beneath the circuit package to the printed circuit board. A conventional pin grid array may be configured to provide high pin counts based on connections beneath the circuit package to the printed circuit board.